Brent, Evelyn (1899–1975)

American leading lady of the silent era. Name variations: appeared in several early films as Betty Riggs. Born Mary Elizabeth Riggs on October 20, 1899, in Tampa, Florida; died in 1975; married Bernie Fineman, 1922 (divorced, 1927); married Harry Edwards (dates unknown); later married Harry Fox (died, 1959).

Films include:

The Pit (1914); The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1915); The Lure of Heart's Desire (1916); The Soul Market (1916); The Spell of the Yukon (1916); The Iron Woman (1916); Who's Your Neighbor? (1917); Raffles, the Amateur Crackman (1917); Daybreak (1918); The Other Man's Wife (1919); The Glorious Lady (1919); Fool's Gold (1919); The Shuttle of life (UK, 1920); The Law Divine (UK, 1920); Sonia (UK, 1921); The Spanish Jade (Spain, 1922); Held to Answer (1923); Loving Lies (1924); The Plunderer (1924); The Arizona Express (1924); The Lone Chance (1924); The Desert Outlaw (1924); The Dangerous Flirt (1924); My Husband's Wives (1924); Silk Stocking Sal (1924); Midnight Molly (1925); Forbidden Cargo (1925); Alias Mary Flynn (1925); Lady Robinhood (1925); Smooth as Satin (1925); Three Wise Crooks (1925); Queen o' Diamonds

(1926); The Impostor (1926); The Jade Cup (1926); Flame of the Argentine (1926); Love 'Em and Leave 'Em (1926); Love's Greatest Mistake (1927); Blind Alleys (1927); Underworld (1927); Women's Wares (1927); Beau Sabreur (1928); The Last Command (1928); The Showdown (1928); A Night of Mystery (1928); The Dragnet (1928); His Tiger Lady (1928); The Mating Call (1928); Interference (1929); Broadway (1929); Fast Company (1929); Woman Trap (1929); Why Bring That Up? (1929); Darkened Rooms (1929); Slightly Scarlet (1930); Framed (1930); The Silver Horde (1930); Madonna of the Streets (1930); Traveling Husbands (1931); The Mad Parade (1931); Pagan Lady (1931); High Pressure (1932); Attorney for the Defense (1932); The Crusader (1932); The World Gone Mad (1933); Home on the Range (1935); The Nitwits (1935); Hopalong Cassidy Returns (1936); The President's Mystery (1936); (serial) Jungle Jim (1937); Night Club Scandal (1937); The Last Train from Madrid (1937); Daughter of Shanghai (1937); Tip-Off Girls (1938); Mr. Wong—Detective (1938); The Law West of Tombstone (1938); The Mad Empress (1940); (serial) Holt of the Secret Service (1941); Emergency Landing (1941); Westward Ho! (1942); The Seventh Victim (1943); Bowery Champs (1944); The Golden Eye (1948).

Evelyn Brent, under contract to a production company affiliated with Metro known as Popular Plays and Players, began her career as an extra in silents as early as 1915. One of her first leading roles was opposite John Barrymore in Raffles, the Amateur Crackman two years later. Following World War I, she sailed to England where she was a chorus girl in the West End production of The Ruined Lady (1920).

Brent made a number of films while abroad; though most were British, several were made in Holland. The Spanish Jade, filmed in Spain in 1922, was her first success. On the strength of this, she returned to Hollywood to co-star with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in The Thief of Bagdad (1924), but she was replaced at the last minute. Evelyn Brent went on to make a number of lackluster films for Fox and mediocre photoplays with the Film Booking Office. Several movies for Paramount also flopped. It was Josef von Sternberg's masterpiece 1927 Underworld that finally capitalized on Brent's sultry good looks, and she followed this with 1928's The Last Command, a small movie that enjoyed enormous success.

Brent's career suffered with the advent of talkies, though her voice was pleasant enough to make the transition. The Silver Horde (1930), with Louis Wolheim, received a lukewarm reception, as did Pagan Lady (1931) in spite of her popular co-star Conrad Nagel. Brent undertook a vaudeville tour in 1933 and made Home on the Range in 1935 with Jackie Coogan. Golden Eye (1948) was one of her last cinematic attempts. During the 1950s, Brent worked as an actor's representative for the Thelma White Agency. Widowed in 1959, with her fortune gone, she took an apartment in Westwood Village, California, with longtime friend Dorothy Herzog . Late in life, Brent often heard from loyal fans, many who had been born well after her heyday. Bemused by adulation that came too late, she once thanked a fan for his interest while adding, "where were all you people when I needed you?"

sources:

Lamparski, Richard. Whatever Became of … ? 3rd series. NY: Crown, 1971.